The Dwarf: The Unexpected Heir
by DreamTimeNation
Summary: All those long years ago in the midst of Battle and flames a child was born. An Heir to the throne of Erebor, a once great and powerful Kingdom under the mountain. Too Bad that Kili has married someone else and she was no better than a half-breed bastard.
1. Prologue

The Dwarf: The Unexpected Heir

Prologue

All her life Lillian had heard consistent rumours and malicious gossip about her mother, the lonely Elf captain Tauriel. The town in which they had called home was a trading port for the city of Minas Tirith, the beautiful white stoned city that overshadowed everyone who lived in the town. Being a town of trade meant all kinds of tradesmen would gather and sell their goods. There was hardly a day that went by that Lillian did not meant someone new, someone to tell her a tale or two about the world beyond the town. As long as Lillian could remember, she knew her mother did not like her talking with strangers. It brought attention to them and further rumours about her mother's past as it was not often in these parts did you find an Elf-maid by herself without a home.

After all, her mother did turn up seventeen years ago on the verge of death with new born twins strapped to her and no one knew where she had come from or why she was so far from the closest Eleven lands. Luckily for Tauriel all those years ago, a young man who had recently lost his family felt a duty to take in the elf and her children and care for them as he would have for the family he had lost. Gideon, did not pay attention to the old crows in the town who sat around gossiping all day and warning him of the doom that may have followed Tauriel and her babes.

To Gideon's luck that impending doom they warned him about never followed the strangely quiet Elf or her children. The Elf Tauriel was simply ill and after a time of healing and bed rest, she was able to become comfortable in her surroundings. Even if her new home was at the back of Gideon's tavern. Her children, a beautiful young lass named Lillian and a charming lad named Gillian soon became Gideon's second family no matter how much the town disapproved of his new guests.

But as the years went on Tauriel and her children did not move on, they became quite comfortable living in the town even with the horrid people.

Then…

A few days after Lillians and Gillians ninth birthday, a boat of sick men entered the town. Within days the young and the sickly began to die. This fever swept through the town like a plague, one moment Tauriel was happy and then the next Gillian became ill.

Tauriel tried everything she knew, every herb and every potion. But nothing worked, his temperature was so high and his body was so weak she was at a loss. Gillian died during the night with his mother by his bedside clutching his hand and praying to her gods and his sister sleeping peacefully next to him. Tauriel gently carried her son outside and just sat there with him in her arms, crying and moaning in agony over her son's death. Nine years with him was not enough, his dark brown eyes and oaken coloured hair along with his father's charm was something she was never going to get back.

The day that they buried him was the day Tauriel lost a piece of herself, to love someone so much only for it to mean nothing. No mother should ever be forced to outlive her child, it was another cruel twist of nature in Tauriel's long life.

This bitterness from her son's death brought an opportunity to be useful, since so many died. The townsfolk needed a new captain of the guard. A role, Tauriel took too quickly for her to even think about the daughter she was leaving at home all day in the guardianship of Gideon. Now her time was consumed by watching the distant lands of Mordor and trying to keep the tradesmen from killing one another.

The more Tauriel worked the more Lillian was forgotten about. It remained like that for years to follow, the guardsmen were a higher priority than her own daughter. Something Gideon and Tauriel fought over endlessly and what Lillian cried over regularly.

Though Lillian loved her mother, she never truly understood the abandonment that she endured over most of her childhood. This distance only seemed to get worst and at the height of it Lillian was out in the fields after a snowstorm had passed with a stray dog she had picked up only days before. Lillian was barely fourteen when a pack of Orc scouts had seen her playing in the fields. The three Orcs on their Wargs chased her down within moments Lillian didn't even bother to run or scream.

The foul breathe of the Wargs was nearly enough to bring Lillian to her knees, she did not even know that Orcs were in the area. Usually her mother would have seen them off long before they even got close to the farms surrounding the town. Pity she missed the ones that were going to murder her and send pieces of her back to the town.

To Lillian's poor good luck the Orcs did not murder her, nor cut her up into pieces. Instead they branded her face. They burnt the flesh to the bone on the left side of her once beautiful face, leaving her in the fields bloodied, beaten and half blind in the snow.

By the time Lillian came to the Orcs were long gone and she was lying in the snow all alone with the Sun fading into the distance. Tauriel remembered that day like no other, she had returned home to find Gideon panicking that her daughter had not returned from the fields. Then by chance she heard Lillian scream for her in the distance, by the time they found her outside of the town she was covered in blood and in a daze.

Now just passed her seventeenth birthday and the height of winter, Lillian acted if it never happened. Just a simple accident that was easily forgotten she had thought. But in truth, Lillian hated the winter snow when her birthday came around. Not only did it remind her of her mutilation but another birthday spent without the love of her deceased brother and her distant mother. Tauriel had long since banned any reflective mirror in their house to help with Lillian's recovery and had applied all sorts of herbs, lotions and potions to curb the scaring that may occur. It was done in vain and her mother's efforts did little to help, a horrific ugly scar covered the left side of her face, her left eye was now pale and blind. Tauriel had never heard her daughter complain about it, but it bothered Tauriel every day as such a scar would ruin a lot of her daughters future prospects. Lillian would never become one of the guards, nor a healer… and her marriage prospects had long been forgotten about. Once her daughter was the beauty of the town, long red hair, tall and willow like figure and beautiful green eyes. Now her daughter was mocked by all, a monster she was often called.

What made the taunting worse was now the villagers, had managed to gather up all their ill thoughts and give it all to her daughter. Stones were thrown at her daughter on a daily basis to and from her schooling and the other children referred her to a half-breed. Again Lillian never complained about it, she was often seen laughing and being social to those who wondered into the tavern. Those that were served by her were often too stupid or drunk to notice Lillian's questionable heritage or her scar.

Tauriel despised her daughter being labelled a half-breed, but since Tauriel was quite obviously an elf and her daughter did not have any of the typical elven traits it was obvious that Lillian was only part elf and part something else. No one knew what other part was pf course, most assumed she was part human hence why the slightly meaner passer-by's calling Lillian a half-breed.

Only Tauriel knew of her heritage. Lillian had known for quite a while that her mother did not want to talk about her father, who he was or what he was. But Lillian knew that her mother was a highly disciplined being and one who had seen too much death and heartbreak. So she never really pressed her mother for information about her father.

Lillian looked very similar to her mother, Tauriel was extremely beautiful and often lured many men into conversation with her. None passed her mother's standards of course, so for as long as Lillian could remember it had only been her and Tauriel. Not even Gideon their closest friend in the village dared to charm the she-elf. Lillian often thought that perhaps her mother had never gotten over her father and that she mourned the loss of their companionship. The only truth to this Lillian had ever seen was that her mother Tauriel had kept this small rune stone with some sort of language on it, perhaps her father had given it to her. But for all she knew that small stone could have been picked up from some drunk in the tavern some night long past.

Lillian often avoided her own reflection, but she knew she did not have one single trait of her father in her. She had her mother's fiery red hair, almost the colour of the copper metals that Lillian saw traders bring in. Apart from the damaged eye, both of them were originally the same hazel exquisitely decorated with shades of green the same as her mothers. There was only one thing that was different… and that was her height. She was shorter than her mother, not by a lot but enough to question if her mother fell in love with someone shorter than she was.

At seventeen now, Lillian did not care about what the town had to say about how odd her mother was or the many rumours that involved the pair of them. She often took particular means of avoiding the more snobbish townsfolk who often made cruel remarks about the scar upon her face, Lillian knew that they called her a 'ghoul' or their favourite a 'monster' and it hurt her feelings for the months that followed her run in with the orcs. But she was just as able as anyone else in the town working harder than anyone else in the town so that she may one day be useful to her mother

Lillian was an incredible swordswoman but her down fall was her archery, the lack of depth perception prevented her from a precise murderous blow. So she had learnt to fight with two finer swords rather than just one great sword

Tauriel had watched her daughter practise nearly every day, not that Lillian noticed. She had her father's persistence and enough stubbornness to not know when to give up. But to her credit, Lillian was a talented swordwoman.


	2. Chapter 1

The Dwarf: The Unexpected Heir

Chapter One

With her mother out on patrol and Gideon past out by the bar, it was once again down to Lillian to see that the 'The Old Maid' tavern would not burn down. For some reason, Dwarves had invaded her town and were ruining the place. They were too loud, obnoxious and was drinking the tavern dry. She could barely understand most of them with their words being lost due to an incoherent amount of alcohol being consumed, scattered amongst the tavern some of the dwarves were already passed out.

The Dwarves had managed to make the cook so furious he had left hours ago leaving behind a tavern full of hungry drunken dwarves. Which was making this night almost impossible to handle by herself, Lillian had often thought that Dwarves were a incredibly crude and rude type of race with little to no respect for others outside their kin.

"Oi! Young Lass! Where did you crawl out of the ground with such a repulsive face?" An older dwarf asked. The tavern broke into laughter, such torment Lillian was used to. After all, she lived in a town known for its unfriendly townsfolk and visitors.

Once the dwarves stopped laughing, most likely forgotten whom they were laughing at in the first place. They all started to leave, one by one and some having to drag out their drunken kin.

One sober Dwarf remained, a young male dwarf named Gimli.

Lillian had met this dwarf on numerous occasions, he usually was found traveling with his mother trading goods and bringing them back to their homeland of Erebor.

"I do apologize lovely Lilly, we dwarves are known to celebrate a bit too enthusiastically at times" He laughed as he helped Lillian sweep a broken glass into a pile. Of course Lillian was too annoyed as per usual to find the more humorous side to the damage the dwarves would cost the tavern.

"What reason do the dwarves have to cause so much damage now to a peaceful tavern?" Lillian asked him. He too knew that Lillian was a serious young lady at times and the damage caused was enough to push her into a tempestuous mood.

"The King is getting married, we dwarves love a festival. We are on our way now for the seven day feast that is being held in honour of the new queen"

Lillian stopped sweeping at the glass and looked at the young dwarf. "So you cause all this damage just for some wedding?"

Now Gimli stopped sweeping, he thought that perhaps Lillian might have seen the slight festive view of the celebrations. Much like her mother he had thought, too much work and not enough freedom. "It's not just a wedding, you see it could means the continuation of the Durin line. One of the oldest and honourable lines we dwarves have!"

"The Durin line? By chance is that the same Durin line in some dragon story?" Lillian asked out of curiosity, she remembered her mother used to tell her about the adventures she had with the Company of dwarves that featured some of the last of the Durin line.

"Aye, the same. How do you know the tale? A young elf does not seem as a usual suspect to know such a Dwarven tale." Gimli asked, he had moved to removing the various food left over and throwing them in a huge linen sack to be fed to the pigs later on.

"My mother told me a few times when I was a little girl, she hasn't mentioned it since I had my accident though. It made her too sad I think?" Lillian said as she held open the sack for her friend to dump the food into.

"Too sad? By chance was your mother there?" he asked.

"She won't tell me direct yes or no answer. But she has some burns on her back, I also think my father was lost in the battle of the five armies" Lillian liked talking with Gimli now, sometimes he was too silly when she needed to be serious and the pair of them would break out into arguments.

"That may be true, many elven lives were lost in the battle I have always been told" Gimli said as he finished the last of food.

"Yet, I don't know if my father was an elf. I think he might have been a man? One who lived in Lake town before Smaug burnt it down"

Gimli laughed in disbelief "Ha! Man and Elf, no wonder you get called a half-breed then" But he quickly went quiet as he saw Lillian did not smile nor laugh with him.

"Young Master Dwarf, count yourself lucky. Would you be laughing at yourself if you had no real idea who you were? Not knowing who my father is, is something most sad to me. Especially in this age where who your father was is everything. You try to explain to people that you don't know who he was nor if he was actually married to my mother. I am a presumed half-breed and a bastard, even the butchers' boy has better prospects than I do"

Gimli had not meant to cause such offence to his dear friend. But he knew immediately that he had ruined the conversation and thought it best to leave.

"I only have this as a clue, I don't even know if it has anything to do with my father. But, my mother hardly goes without it and I have found her on numerous occasions crying while clutching it" Lillian held out a stone, usually her mother had it. But Tauriel had been leaving it home more often as she thought it would be safer in one place at the tavern.

Gimlie looked at the stone. "Have you shown this to anyone else?" He asked Lillian who politely shook her head to say that she has not shown a single soul the stone that her mother cherished beyond anything else.

"It's a rune stone" He said.

"What is a rune stone?" Lillian asked taking back the stone and placing it back in her pocket.

"It's just a gift this one in particular, often given to family members or spouses to keep to remind them of their loved ones. It's often very private for Dwarves to do so, we don't do public displays of affection"

"So does it say anything in particular then? It does look like your Dwarven language?" Lillian wanted to know what was written on the stone. It could be a clue of her heritage or her mother's life before she came along.

"It is not for me to say, ask your mother perhaps?" Gimli did not want to say what was on the stone. He knew what it said and it sadden him to read such a message. It was one of such love and devotion, and to know that Lillian's mother had been alone for all these years meant the story behind the stone was not going to be a harmonious one.

Lillian just nodded in agreement to perhaps ask her mother. It was about time her curiosity about many things was satisfied anyhow.

It took a couple of hours to finish cleaning up the tavern, the roosters were starting to crow when Tauriel walked in from patrolling the town boarders. Gideon was obviously still out cold from the previous night, she had no idea how such a man came to run such an establishment if he drank more than the people who came to the tavern itself.

Tauriel looked around, the tavern reeked of dwarf yet no visible trace of their usual damage was to be found. Lillian must have cleaned up again, her over the top type of cleaning was dearly noted as her mother walked through the tavern to see that nothing had been missed.

She walked to the private quarters at the back of the Tavern, she entered the small place which they had called home for far too long and have out grown.

Tauriel smiled when she saw Lillian on the bed fast asleep, her hair covered the scar on her face and Tauriel felt in that sight that her daughter truly deserved the world. But sadly, Lillian woke up as soon as she felt eyes watch her. Her long red hair was tucked away and the scar was visible to the world again, that warm moment that Tauriel felt only moments ago disappeared. The world was cruel and violent place, especially to those like Lill9ian.

Lillian saw that her mother was observing her scar and she too felt suddenly sad as she looked at her mother. She knew that her mother had always felt a immense amount of guilt over the entire ordeal, in fact she cannot remember the last time Tauriel had looked her directly in the eye.

She turned away hoping that her mother would say something, but nothing came. Tauriel just removed her light armour and sat by the window trying to clean off the orc blood off her weapons.

"Mother?" Lillian thought at this moment that this was the best opportunity to ask all those questions Gimli had planted in her head only hours ago.

"Yes my Lilly?" Tauriel thought that her daughter perhaps might wanted extra payment for looking after the tavern overnight as well as having to handle the boisterous dwarfs.

"Did my father give you this rune stone?" Lillian asked.

Tauriel's reaction was just as she thought. Her mother inhaled sharply and pursed her lips together obviously in complete disappointment that she had asked that question in the first place.

"Lillian, that rune stone is none of your concern-"

Lillian interrupted the arbitrary excuse her mother was about to say.

"-don't do that! Do not ignore my question. I have a right to know! Was my father a man who I had pictured my entire life or is he a dwarf? Gimli-

The moment Tauriel heard that trouble redheaded dwarfs name she knew that he was behind all of this nonsense. She sighed, damn the dwarves for their way of saying things without thinking beforehand that what they may say might hurt the person they're talking too.

"-Gimli? What lies has he told you now? That dwarf is trouble, you'd best stay away from him"

It wasn't that Tauriel hated nor disliked the dwarf. But he was too close to those that knew her from all those years ago, all he would have to do is breathe one word of her to the King and her town in which she called home would be swarmed in dwarves within days.

"He told me that Dwarves give these stones to those that they love" Lillian pulled up a nearby chair and stared at her mother goating for a reaction from the resilient Elf. Tauriel inhaled deeply. Why did her daughter have to know the truth to everything, this was Tauriel's only secret to her now and Tauriel felt like she had no other choice but to tell her everything otherwise she would never let her live it down.

"I want to know mother!" Lillian raised her voice and saw that her mother did not react at all, so she crossed her arms and huffed. The Elves were formidable for their stubborn ways, her mother was no exception.

Tauriel sat there for a good long moment, her mind fluttering with panic with what she has decided to reveal. But she looked at her daughter who was almost on the verge of tears, Tauriel just couldn't say no now. Tauriel smiled at her daughter and opened her arms, Lillian immediately came over and sat with her mother by the window. Her mother's arms wrapped around her as she joined her mother in looking out the window and at the stars.

"I will tell you tonight. But this must stay between us. You may wish to seek out your father after this atrociously long tale and I will not stop you. But this must remain secret, there are those out there who would wish you harm if you told the world now without protection." Tauriel said with her heart beating a million miles an hour in her chest. Lillian of course nodded in agreement to the promise to keep her father's identity a secret.

Lillian saw her mother's reflection in the window, once a moment ago it was quite a sombre expression on her face and now there was a slight sparkle in her eye and a smile forming on her lips. Tauriel had this sparkle in her eye by just the sheer memory of how she first met the love of life, Kili and the memory of his smile that seemed to calm her no matter how flustered she had become.

"I first met your father when his group of companions trespassed onto my peoples lands, they were being attacked by giant spiders so we chose to intervene. I heard your father yell for help, he was trapped by a spider without a weapon. I came to his aid. I remember the first time our eyes met… You were right Lillian, your father was indeed a dwarf" Tauriel hugged her daughter closer to her body as she felt it her heart that her daughter needed comfort. Lillian's beautiful eyes began to water now as she heard for the first time how her parents met.

"I do not care he was a dwarf. I want to know everything" Lillian said as she snuggled back into her mother's embrace. Which Tauriel softly chuckled at, the innocence of her daughter was something she admired. She had no idea the troubles out there in the big wide world for people who didn't follow traditions of their kind.

"Because your father was trespassing on Elven lands, I as Captain of the Guards of Mirkwoord ordered they be restrained, stripped of their weapons and brought back to Mirkwood for a trail by my King. I locked all of them in the dungeons, your father was the only dwarf for some reason who didn't look worried that we had just taken their weapons. I place your father in a cell, he noted that the others had been stripped of their weapons but not himself. He said to me 'How come you don't search me? I could have anything down my trousers?' I then pushed him into the cell and walked away before my smile could be noticed by anyone. Unfortunately, the Prince and my good friend Legolas had quickly caught on about Kili's flirtations"

Lillian was not sure what to overwhelmed over… Her mother used to be a proud and powerful Captain of the Guard, while her good friend was the Prince! How could she of all people come to live in a simple life of a towns guard?

"Kili? Hmm… I never would have thought of him having such a young boy's name. Like, he was always an inner child no doubt? Full of adventure and impulse of the moments. What did he look like mother? Did he look similar to me?" Lillian wanted to know everything, down to every scar and dimple her father had.

"Your father's family had an unusual trait of having names that sound the same, usually it passes from father to son. But your father Kili had a brother Fili, the pair of them were inseparable. Both loud, boisterous young Dwarves. Your father Kili, you see was abnormally tall for a Dwarf; he stood perhaps around the height of a short man, certainly not a typical dwarf. You may resemble me but you share the same smile, a smile that always lights up a room" Tauriel affectionately wiped a tear from her daughters cheek with her thumb, her daughter smiling back at her started to make Tauriel slightly resentful that soon she will have to let her daughter know why she isn't the Princess of Erebor that she was born to be.

"Your father was incredibly handsome for a Dwarf, he was a rather young dwarf when I met him. I remember his brother Fili making fun of him because your fathers beard just barely counted as a beard to Dwarven standards. His beautiful dark eyes and hair so dark brown it was almost black..." Tauriel needed a moment to regather her thoughts as sorrow began to fall in her mind.

"He sounds lovely mother, please continue" Lillian was smiling. She had an image of her father in head and was ready to hear the rest of the story. Tauriel gently placed the rune stone she had hid from Lillian in the palm of her hand letting her daughter studying the strange writing on it.

"The rune stone that you have in your hand Lillian, in fact was not originally mine. It was your grandmothers, whom gave it to your father. Inscribed on it is a promise; that he would return to her. Lillian, your father was just not an ordinary dwarf. When I met him he was on a long journey to reclaim his ancestral home of Erebor, with his companions… his brother…and his uncle King Thorin Oakenshield. You see father was a prince, second in line to the throne. Of course, he knew he was never to sit on the throne hence his unbelievable ability to get into trouble."

Lillian just looked at her mother in awe, all the stories that her mother used to tell of Princesses and their adventures had always made her envious of the higher classes and royalty. Now she had royal blood in her, Lillian truly wanted to know why they were here? If her mother loved a Dwarven Prince and they had her… then why wasn't she gallivanting around the halls of Erebor?

"When your father and his band of Misfit companions were rescued by their friend Bilbo, a hobbit and managed to escape Mirkwood I thought it might have been the last time I saw him. But to your fathers' fatal flaw of always getting into trouble… A pack of Orcs were hovering on our borders, so when your father and his friends escaped they were immediately attacked. At the time I was careless, I let your father and his companions escape and I took back of foul Orc to my king to learn why the Dwarves all of a sudden wanted to claim Erebor and why the Orcs meaned to butcher them"

Lillian remained silent, looking out the window pretending to be settled when in reality she was a lot closer to grabbing the nearest horse to track down her father and demand answers about their obvious abandonment.

Tauriel noticed her daughters quiet reservations, she knew the tale was nearly up and the odds were that Lillian would be demanding answers "The Orc told us the time of Man would be up and we no longer would be able to hide in our borders. He laughed when he said he was proud that he had managed to kill one of the last line of Durin line. 'The black haired Archer' your father had been struck by a mogual arrow. The poison would kill him… I had held my blade out of anger to the Orcs throat and I said that he was lying. I would have cut of his head if my king had not dismissed me… Little to his knowledge I had slipped out of Mirkwood within moments to track down your father"

"No one can survive such a poison, many travellers had always complained about it on their drunken tangents here" Lillian knew the poison well. The Orcs over the past few years has managed to kill many of the men who came to the tavern, most who seemed fine and then grew a fever and died.

"Elvish Medicine is something you know of very well. Men and Elves have had a long disagreement on such things, they would rather die with pride than ask for help from an Elf" Tauriel was a bit disappointed in her daughter, obviously Lillian had not been reading as much as Tauriel thought she had.

"I took a couple of days to reach your father, unfortunately not only had your father been left behind by most of his companions. My Prince and friend Legolas had followed me to Lake Town. Your father was barely conscious and my prince was impatient to kill the Orcs that were hiding in Lake Town. In my own disbelief I let my Prince go and I stayed behind to heal your father. Kili was incredibly sick, the family in the house which we took refuge in were very kind. Even though the Dwarves had caused immense unrest they did not refuse your father. It took hours of cleaning and using my talent for Medicine for your father to wake, and when he woke...-"Tauriel had to look away from her daughter as she knew at one glance of Lillian she would break out in uncontrollable snivelling

"-he asked in his own delirious way if I would ever had been able to love him. Being in a room with others in it, I did not reply but took his hand keeping our affection we shared out of the eyes of onlookers. When your father was well enough we only few intimate hours-

-I don't need to know that much detail mother"

"Well, its when you were conceived. But that very night the Dwarves had reached Erebor and disturbed the sleeping dragon Smaug. Smaug then out of spite flew down from the mountain to punish the town, he set the entire town on fire. Thousands perished within moments, we were lucky enough to escape barely with our lives. Bard whom had allowed us to stay in his own home had managed to slay Smaug. But the morning that followed, I had to make a choice… my Prince had returned with rumours of an army bring prepared in a land far north wanting me to join him while your father wanted me to come with him to join him to reclaim Erebor. I chose my own Prince over your father, in the midst of all the grief stricken villagers I remember your father's face of bitterness as he set sail to his new home."

"If I had known that your father had a jealous childish feeling towards Legolas, I should have told him that Legolas was never going to be my intended and that Legolas just felt threatened that someone was taking a dear friend from him"

"So? Did he ever forgive you? Did you join him at Erebor?" Lillian had so many questions buzzing around in her head. Tauriel knew that if she didn't tell her daughter this long tale with as much detail then her daughter would ask questions till the day she died.

Strategically Tauriel avoided the questions her daughter just asked, and continued with the tale that was nearly to the end. "Weeks later, I had suspected I was carrying you as I became ill very quickly and this caused us to take too long to get to Gundabad where the army was preparing for war." Tauriel left the comforts of the window still and further away from her daughter tryint ot distance herself from her when she had to give the devastating news. "By the time we arrived the army had been deployed. It had taken nearly two months to get there… My pregnancy had cost us dearly. With my remaining strength I managed to beat the army to back Dale, the City situated near Erebor. But only to find another separate army of Orcs had already beaten us there, the town was nearly lost… I remember fighting for days trying to beat the hordes of Orcs and trolls with the help of the powerful Mirkwood elves and my king Thranduil"

"A few weeks later, I had now found out I was carrying you and could not wait to see your father again. But War did break out, but it wasn't a simple two-sides. Your great uncle broke his promise to the men of Laketown who retaliated back, the Elves of Mirkwood my own people joined them. There was a separate army coming from far away ready to decimate the last of the Durin line as well as hundreds of Orcs from a necromancer who wished the Kingdom of Erebor for himself now that Dragon had been slain."

"For days we held against the Orcs and Trolls, but I knew a separate force was coming from the other side. I had to tell you father to stop his quest to take out the Orcs leader as it was a trap waiting for him and the rest of his companions."

"This bit gets a bit fuzzy. But I remember hearing your father fighting against a huge Orc.." Tauriel covered her eyes with her own hands trying in her last faint attempts to stop crying in front of her daughter. But the tears came along with the sobs, Lillian saw her mother in distress and felt her own distress at her mother anguish. This tale of her father is bringing up old memories enough to crush her own mothers heart.

"I went against my Kings orders, a king who had kept me under his own wing broke my bow in front of me for wanting to save your father. I was exiled because I did want to abandon the Dwarves who were heading directly for a trap on Raven Hill. So I went after your father in my own recklessness with only the help of Legolas, because my pregnancy was obvious to him he had this protectiveness of me as if he was my older brother. But when I arrived to the old ruin on Ruin Hill, I witnessed the great white Orc Azog throw your uncle of the top of the tower" Tauriel had to take in a few deep breaths.

"Kili out of anger and stupidity ran into the tower, not knowing the army from Gundabad was beginning to enter the ruins. I went in after him, wave after wave of Orcs and other foul creatures took a great toll on the last of my spirit. I was wounded badly." Lillian was in had a feeling of disbelief when her mother lifted up her tunic and showed her the scar. It was a wound that would have bleed to the point of death if her mother did not receive urgent medicine.

"The pain was excruciating and it just kept bleeding I did not even realise I was on my knees when another Orc came to kill me, I cried for your father. Who called back, I knew he was coming but the Orc right in front of me over powered me easily. The Orc known as Bolg, was one move away from ending my life when your father stabbed him with his sword" Tauriel smiled at memory of Kil jumping off the stairs to knock Bolg off of her.

"He tried desperately to stop the wound from bleeding, but he was panicking. I faintly remember grabbing his hand and putting it on my abdomen. The smile on his face was like seeing the warm Sun after a cold and dark winter. He kissed me and wrapped his arms around me, for that moment I thought everything was going to be alright. But Bolg had seen your father previously and knew he was a part of the Durin line. He snuck up on us, he tore was apart; throwing me into a wall." The tears and the sobs had returned at that one memory that had haunted her for all these years.

"By the time I came to, I saw your father being overpowered … and I watched a Bolg impale him with the sword side of his mace. He impaled him like he was a pig on a spit and threw your father's body to one side. Bolg didn't even look at me, he thought my wounds would kill me so he needn't bother finishing the job himself"

"I crawled to your father's side, he was alive but barely. I kissed him hoping to awaken him but he was unconscious, so I held his hand as long as I could before I too lost consciousness" Both Lillian and her mother remained silent for a moment. Lillian seeing with her imagination a spear right through her father's chest along with her mother wailing in grief next to him as he lay dying.

"When I woke up nearly three weeks later, I was told that we were found together. But the Dwarves who had lost their king and next in line for the throne and were desperate to try and save your father, enough so that they left me behind. Bard's daughter Sigrid had found me in apparently a horrific amount of my own blood and nursed me back to health. For a couple more weeks we both were uncertain if I had lost you or not."

Tauriel played with Lillian's long hair and both had a breath of relief. Lillian was forever going to be greatful to this Sigrid if she ever had the chance.

"I was in Dale for nearly four whole weeks of being bed ridden" Tauriel smiled and kissed her daughters forehead "You were safe, and once I was deemed fit I headed straight for Erebor. Thinking that your father might have been looking for me or was in some sort of distress" Tauriel sighed

"I was wrong, once I reached the great golden gate I was turned away. No Elf was welcome in Erebor, I demanded to see the King but I grew tired of arguing. I was only two or so months away from giving birth so I had other things to organise-"-Did you see him? Did he come looking for you?" Desperate to see if her father was able to redeem himself Lillian had to ask those questions.

"I did see him, but he was not looking for me. It was a month later and I was trying to find some linen for you since your arrival was getting closer by the hour. I was in the Markets when I heard all this commotion, being taller than most I easily saw your Father whom was now walking with a cane not fully recovered and his royal guard heading towards me. I thought he may have stopped or at least acknowledged my own existence, but nothing. When our eyes met, there was nothing but bitterness. He saw my belly and simply kept walking. Out of a broken and irrational heart I left Dale with all I had left, I gave birth to you and your brother in a small dense forest not far from here. With my broken heart and my begging for the pain to go away the light of the Eldar granted me my wish, I lost my mortality and light of the elder and that's where Gideon found us and took us in." Tauriel did not want to continue once more, so she took in a deep breath and sighed "I did not wish to outlive my children, no mother should ever out live her children. When your brother died I thought I was being punished for defying my own king and abandoning everything I had ever known. If I did not have you, I believe I might have just withered away and died"

. Lillian could not understand how a person could so easily turn away someone. Did her father treat her mother as just a common whore? "How could he do that to you? I don't understand" Lillian sniffled. Her father may have turned out be a king, but not a good person. Which destroyed the image of her father being this cheeky flirt like he sounded in the beginning of her mother's tale.

"We cannot always know the truth behind the ones we love. I do not know what I had done for your father to treat me as he did. So now I sit here, still in love with a dark haired Dwarven archer and a daughter who is the most precious person in the world to me. I did not want you to know as I am not sure of the consequences that will follow, all I can do is trust you that you will not reveal your fathers Identity to anyone. Not even your Dwarven friend Gimli."

The conversation was drawing to a close so Tauriel moved her beaten and tired body to her bed hoping that her daughter would now go back to sleep to process all the things she had just told her. Pity that Lillian's curiosity had other ideas.

"Then why don't we both return to Dale? If my father is such a person who so easily turns away you then he deserves a bit of retribution at his own wedding festival celebrating his new love-"

"-Wedding Festival?" Tauriel shot a surprised look at her daughter. Though it felt like her own heart had just been stabbed with a mogoul blade.

"I was told there would be a grand feast in Erebor for a few days." Lillian answered. But she noted how her mother looked grief stricken at the news that the love of her life was to be married soon.

"I'm sorry mother" Lillian hugged her mother "I did not mean to upset you with the news, but I am adamant that if he can move on so much without even attempting to seek the both of us out. Then he deserves all the trouble I will cause him" Lillian apologised.

Though still in a state of astonishment about hearing for the first time Kili's wedding festival Tauriel did not like that her daughter wanted to cause trouble. Causing trouble meant she was valuable to everything that Tauriel had wanted to hide from her. Lillian's scarred face was Tauriel's major concern people in this town were used to it, but such a large City Dale was there was going to be those who looked down upon her.

"What would happen and you confront your father and he does not dismiss you? He is incredibly charming and I do not know what he might do or say. I feel that if you go to Erebor, I could lose you. All the riches that would be in the palm of your hand is something I couldn't even begin to describe. Or you would be humiliated, Dwarves are not known for their acceptance of broken traditions and you are half dwarf and half elf. Something that was incomprehensible then and probably extremely frowned upon now. Then there are also those who most likely wouldn't want an heir to the throne to be you, you have great risk of being murdered"

Tauriel hoped this serious message may persuade her daughter to choose otherwise and save herself from further turmoil. Lillian would face untold dangers and be scrutinized beyond anything that she had ever dealt with before. This journey to Dale could mean that Lillian could return just as bitter towards the world like her mother, to die believing the world was a ugly and harsh place.

"I am a daughter of both the mountain and trees" Lillian smiled at her mother as she continued "I have a right to confront my father and see what he has to say for himself. I won't leave you, I will never leave you. You are both the loving mother and the disciplined father I have had my entire life. I won't simply discard you if Kili turns out to be a decent being."

That was that, Tauriel thought. The pair would leave first thing tomorrow and head for Dale. It would take a hard weeks ride to get there for the end of the wedding feast. But it would also give time for Tauriel to see old friends like the Bards and who knows, perhaps even Legolas may be on her visiting list.


End file.
